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You might consider Tieton Basin/Conrad Basin/Warm Lake and Gilbert Peak in the Goat Rocks Wilderness.....you have to hike thru the cow pies and flies and dust in Conrad Mdw. at this time of the year, but once you get to the Wilderness it is sublime ....a wildflower paradise and it is a hike and not a climb to the top of Gilbert.

A good family hike in the same area is from Section Three Lake out to Bear Creek Mt...from there you can look into the Goat Rocks....the last mile or so is steep but well worth the view.....the first couple miles are in a alpine mdw. full of wildflowers....you need some sort of high clearance vehicle to get to the trailhead from Pinegrass Ridge..

I hiked the Rachel Lake trail today. It was a great day for a hike. I went to Rachel Lake first.

Then I hiked up to the Rampart Lakes. I brought my swim trunks and went in up to my chest. Holy crap it was cold. I had planned on swimming, but had to get out. It felt good, but I don't think I could have stayed in too much longer.

Nice! I almost went swimming involuntarily in one of the Rampart Lakes on a cloudy cool day. Slipped and was on the verge of going in the drink, managed to catch myself at the last second.

Oh man that would have sucked! It would have been a long hike back to the car in wet clothes.

One thing I didn't mention is that I watched Revenant for the first time the night before the hike. I was by myself and my mind was thinking about bears a lot, especially in the first few miles where you hike through tall brush with lots of berries. A couple of times I freaked out when I heard an animal in the bushes.

" If you go our in the woods today, you better be on your toes. Todays the day the teddy bears have their picnic ".....That is where the bears are now....

If you want to see bears, Poet's Ridge (Little Wenatchee) is full of berries and bears at this time of the year....and there is a lake for a swim as a reward for climbing the hills.

I just read a study by BYU professor Tom Smith (and others) that maintains bear spray is more effective than the 44 I carry....

He found that the spray stopped the bears more than 90% of the time and that 98% of the people involved were uninjured......as opposed to 84% for firearms ....the rub was that 25% of the firearms users were injured...... the study included brown, black and polar bears..

Back in July my cousin and I hiked up to the Kendall Katwalk, but on the way we did a short scramble to the top of Kendall Peak. This is me at the top.

After that we came back and finished the hike to the Kendall Katwalk. That was really cool too.

A couple of friends and I hiked over Kendall Katwalk last year at the start of our Snoqualmie to Stevens hike on the PCT. It was cloudy and raining the first two days so we couldn't see anything off of the walk. Looks very nice in the sunshine.

A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
Steven Wright

Foo Fantasy Football Champ 2012
Foo Fantasy Football Last Place Champ 2013

Oh man that would have sucked! It would have been a long hike back to the car in wet clothes.

One thing I didn't mention is that I watched Revenant for the first time the night before the hike. I was by myself and my mind was thinking about bears a lot, especially in the first few miles where you hike through tall brush with lots of berries. A couple of times I freaked out when I heard an animal in the bushes.

I can relate. Last time I was in Montana/Wyoming, in griz country, I was reading a book about a rogue tiger that was on a killing spree in Primorye in eastern Russia. Now granted I wasn't likely to run into a tiger there, but having thoughts swirling around in my head about megafauna, apex predators going around eating people, especially when I was very near a campground just outside Yellowstone where there had been a fatal grizzly mauling a year or two previously...it did things to my mind. Got a bit of the willies one night in my tent. Decided to sleep in the back of the Subaru instead.

That being said, our black bears here in Washington are very well behaved. Can't think of ever hearing about an attack. I see them occasionally, which I consider being lucky. Usually they run away immediately. They really don't want anything to do with people. And if they didn't run away, they basically ignored me and kept doing whatever it was they had been doing.

If you want to see bears, Poet's Ridge (Little Wenatchee) is full of berries and bears at this time of the year....

Bart--I don't know why, but I pretty much completely ignored that whole area until the last few years. Finally have done some hikes around there, and it's great. I did Cady Ridge/Little Wenatchee River loop a couple years ago. Earlier this year traversed most of Poets Ridge (but missed all the major summits), then returned via Little Wenatchee again. Also did Mt. David a couple years ago.

Totally different access, but nearby as a crow flies. West Cady Ridge gives you several nice loop options. A little bit north on the PCT to Dishpan Gap, then you can return either via North Fork Skykomish or Quartz Creek. I've done both.

Y'all are making me jealous. It's flat here in North Texas, though it's nice that my trail has mostly reopened, and we're entering temperate weather for the next few months.

I'm itching to get back to Southern Utah/Northern AZ, specifically Bryce Canyon and Zion NPs. Hoped to have hiked the Narrows this year, maybe next year.

Here's a couple of pics at the end of our trail in Water Canyon, UT a few years back:

The young man in the photo is now nearly as tall as me, and I expect him to overtake me within the next year. A year ago he was 5'5", he's now 5'10".

My preferred hiking distances range from 7-10 miles, which at my pace (16-17 minutes per mile) equals two to three hours. Benefits include dropping a half pound per mile, 20-30 points off my blood glucose reading, and a big load of stress/negative vibes.

Tex, you are a animal....a " normal pace " in the Mountain West is about 2 mph......4 mph is close to a trot...

The total rise/fall in elevation on my trail (6+ miles from start to finish) is maybe 100 feet.

My secret to my pace is simple: the music I listen to. I always start off with "Siberian Khatru" by Yes (live version). Even with nearly 300 songs, I'm getting to the point where I need to bring some more variety in. Here's a typical playlist for a two hour walk:

I also have a jazz playlist dominated by Spyrogyra, George Benson, Tower of Power, and Rick Keller. Rick's the saxophonist for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. He's got a couple of albums on ITunes, they're both really good. I met him NY's night, after they played a concert at Winstar Casino. We both lived in Germany during the same era, and swapped stories about our experiences, particularly the music scene in Europe in the late 70s. We converse occasionally via email.

I saw T of P in concert in Spokane my senior year. Their warm up act was REO Speedwagon...great concert.

There are occasional days when I'll plug in an audio book, currently I'm listening to the Federalist Papers. I know you're going to laugh, but I also have Atlas Shrugged on audio, all 62 hours of it... The narrator did a great job of bringing droll portions to life.